Insurgency: Nepal Brink of Humanitarian Disaster

(New York) – Ten years of armed insurgency
has subjected Nepalis to severe abuses by Maoist rebel and
government forces and placed the country on the verge of a
humanitarian disaster, Human Rights Watch said today. In
particular, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists must
immediately demonstrate that they will respect human rights
standards and the laws of war and end abuses against
civilians.

“Although recent news from Nepal has focused
on the anniversary of the usurpation of power by King
Gyanendra in February 2005, the Maoists must accept their
share of blame for the country’s present crisis,” said Sam
Zarifi, research director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia
division.

The armed conflict has claimed an
estimated 15,000 lives, many of them civilians targeted by
government and rebel forces.

Maoist threats to aid
and development workers, combined with strictly enforced
prohibitions by the rebels against movement of vehicles,
have greatly hampered delivery of humanitarian assistance to
Nepal’s isolated countryside, further increasing the
suffering of the most vulnerable segments of one of the
poorest populations in the world. The Maoists’ constant
threats and abuses have displaced thousands of Nepalis, who
have fled to safer areas or across the border to neighboring
India.

“It’s Nepalis living in rural areas who
have suffered the most from the abuses carried out by the
Maoists and the army over the past 10 years,” said Zarifi.
“Should the fighting intensify, or even continue as before,
there is a real risk of a breakdown in Nepal’s already
strained healthcare, education system, and basic economy.”

Over the past ten years, Maoist forces have
intentionally targeted civilians who have resisted Maoist
demands. They have carried out public executions, often
preceded by torture, thereby sending strong messages to
entire communities: obey or face a similar fate. Maoist
forces have targeted civilian transports and activists
working for other political parties, as well as independent
journalists. They have also attacked and killed the families
of members of the security forces.

The Maoists
carried out a number of attacks on civilians before the
municipal elections of February 8, including the murders of
two candidates. Directly after the elections, the Maoists’
commander, Prachanda, issued a series of public statements
expressing his party’s willingness to follow the will of the
people. In the past, Prachanda has apologized for “mistakes”
after particularly egregious losses of civilian life, most
notoriously in June 2005 after a Maoist roadside mine killed
at least 39 civilians riding on a bus on which several
soldiers were traveling.

“The repressive policies
pursued by the king after February 1, 2005, are an affront
to human rights principles, but don’t justify the Maoists’
abuses,” said Zarifi. “The Maoists no less than the
government must demonstrate their adherence to international
standards, and appropriately discipline or remove from their
ranks those responsible for abuses.”

The Maoists
have regularly pledged to respect human rights. However,
their actions belie these commitments and they often claim
that their party’s ideology justifies abuses of
international human rights and humanitarian law standards
and that these abuses are somehow different—and less
blameworthy—than similar abuses by government security
forces. Although the Maoists have promised to “correct
mistakes,” they function with no accountability.

“The credibility of Prachanda and his party is on the
line. Too often we have heard the Maoists say that they are
a party of the people, and that they will abide by law,”
said Zarifi. “In order for the country and the international
community to take them seriously, the Maoists have to act,
not just make empty statements.”

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